Dear Vocalisters:
I am wondering why the concern about opening the jaw a particular amount for singing. There is no need for this concern. Singers will naturally open the jaw as needed and that need will be determined by the necessity for being heard. The degree of jaw or mouth opening is determined by the size of mouth, the loft of the zygomatic arch, the size of the jaw, the width of the soft and hard palate, the degree of pharyngeal expansion and other less important factors. To even suggest that the singers should open the jaw three fingers width is to deny the individual differences found in each singer.
It must be remembered that phonated sound is amplified by adjustments of the vocal tract (that space from the vocal folds to the facial lips) and it is the adjustments of this primary resonating chamber that gives the voice its tone quality and its vocal power. In this regard, every singer is different. A singer with a larger buccal cavity (mouth cavity), especially if it possesses a high palatial arch, will not need to open the mouth very much. A singer with a wide but not very lofted palatial arch will need to open the mouth a greater degree. Jessey Norman has a wide but low palatial arch,consequently she must open the mouth very substantially. Renee Flemming, by contrast, has, evidently, a high palatial arch and thus less need to produce a large mouth opening on anything but the highest notes. Individual differrences. It makes a choral group look very individual but it is the best way for singers to find their own resonating equilibrium which will produce their own maximum resonance.
In short, don't concern yourself with how much the singer opens the mouth. Concern yourself with how well the singer is resonating his/her tone. Is the tone rich, warm, ringing. Or is it loud, hollow, hooty or harsh. The adjustments of the vocal tract determine these qualities. And these vocal tract adjustments are individual based on the conformation of the individual vocal tract. All uses of the vocal tract must be, by nature, flexible, adjustable, and ever changing. There is no given position that is best for all vocal tracts. In fact, there is no defined position that is correct for any INDIVIDUAL vocal tract. A singers resonating chamber (vocal tract) is one of his/her two primary voice generators (the other is his/her phonation). A knowledge of vocal function is primary -- Lloyd W. Hanson
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